


Fatherhood

by BurnItAllDownDahling



Series: A Family Affair [22]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Sadness, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 06:06:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20810309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurnItAllDownDahling/pseuds/BurnItAllDownDahling
Summary: Nero and the twins go to visit Kyrie at her orphanage.





	Fatherhood

**Author's Note:**

> Fulfilling two! two! Two anon prompts in one! "Family affair Nero visiting Kyrie and the kids. How would the demon react to them," and another prompt that you'll be able to guess by the end of this story. No sex in this one.

The whole business was a colossal waste of Vergil's valuable time, and he would have much preferred to spend the afternoon meeting with potential buyers for the timesteed hoof. His managers were going to be running an auction in a few days, and the price the thing was likely to fetch would rival the budget of a small nation. Already his chosen buyers were squaring off -- because what was an auction, but a fight using money as the weapon? Vergil had been thoroughly enjoying the early bloodsports; there had been two assassination attempts so far, and an alliance had begun to form between two mortal enemies that had substantial entertainment potential. And yet, instead of that, here Vergil was in some place nebulously called "the country," watching his son cavort with a small horde of human children.

They had come to visit Kyrie at the orphanage she ran, out in the hinterlands near Fortuna. Nero had not seen his former lover for more than two years, at Kyrie's request; the two were still friends, but she'd taken the breakup hard -- she said -- and needed time. Now, however, she'd permitted the visit, and Nero had spent the afternoon eagerly chatting with her about her current life. In between, he'd repeatedly let himself be drawn into various games with the older children. The younger children, toddlers and such, were back in the massive old house that the orphanage occupied, being overseen by the Kyrie's staff.

Thus Dante and Vergil had been forced to watch while Nero played touch football, and a weird variation on dodgeball in which all the children had tried to hit him with balls -- never touching him once -- and hide-and-seek. They'd actually managed to drag Dante into that one. Dante had been lounging on the grass, contemplating the clouds or more likely beginning to nap, when a group of braver children had run over and complained that Nero was too hard to find. Dante haggled with them a bit, and then for the price of three KitKats he had gotten into the game and dragged Nero out of his hiding place, high up in an old disused tower.

(Three of that same group of children approached Vergil, where he stood glowering from the house's porch. "You want to play, too?" one had asked. "No," he said. They'd all run off in a hurry, reeking of fear, even though he hadn't been particularly threatening about it. Humans.)

As the afternoon shadows began to stretch toward evening, however, Vergil heard one of the porch's old wooden floorboards creak nearby, and he turned to see Kyrie coming over. "I suspect I know the answer already," she said, smiling, "but the invitation stands, if you want to have dinner with us."

"No, thank you," Vergil said, inclining his head to her with courtesy. "I think we'll be heading home, shortly. He seems to have done a thorough job of wearing the children out."

"Oh, that he has! They'll sleep well tonight. But very well." Then, to Vergil's mild unease, she stayed there on the porch, watching as five children tried to wrestle Nero onto the ground in retaliation for his "hiding too hard." He just laughed and kept walking in circles, dragging all of them behind him. Nearby, however, Dante was busy negotiating with another group of children; he was likely to walk off with all the candy they owned, if he would take Nero down for them. 

"Nero seems happier, now, than he ever was in Fortuna," Kyrie said.

"Mmm," Vergil said, non-committally. In the distance, Nero settled the matter by snatching the candy bar that Dante had been haggling for. Now Dante chased him down the grassy hill for free, while the children squealed in delight from the sidelines.

A moment passed, during which Vergil had to hope that Kyrie would not speak again. Then she said, "I'm glad he's not lonely, anymore."

Vergil looked at her in mild surprise. She watched Nero, giggling as he tried to throw the candy bar into the nearby river and then got tackled by Dante. But to Vergil, she said, "He always has been, for as long as I've known him. Even with my brother and I; we loved him, but we were never enough. You and Dante are what he needed."

Then, while he stared at her and considered his reply, she turned to incline her head to him. "Thank you."

There was nothing _to_ say to something like that, so Vergil merely inclined his head in return, then focused on Nero and Dante again.

And then he froze, because Nero had abruptly thrown Dante off and gotten to his feet. He gazed back at the house with posture taut and hands fisted, and even from nearly a hundred feet away, Vergil could see that the boy's eyes had gone yellow as butter.

Vergil turned and blurred through the house at his fastest speed. Some kind of classes were taking place for the smaller children, inside; they never saw him, though in one case a teacher exclaimed over the blast of wind that went in Vergil's wake. Even with his speed, however, Nero beat him to the prey. As he reached the topmost level of the house and flung the door open, an enormous, clawed hand smashed through the balcony doors and grabbed the armed man in stealth military gear who stood over the room's lone crib. Vergil snatched Yamato out of etherspace -- but in practically the same instant, Nero's demon tightened its hand to crush the intruder, drew back, and then thrust forward again to vanish, as if into an invisible hole. Then it withdrew, empty again, having deposited its prey in etherspace for storage. The intruder would be kept in stasis there, and survive to be questioned later, provided Nero's demon hadn't broken him too badly.

Nero's demon had thrust its head and one shoulder through the balcony doors to get to the intruder, but now it hissed in irritation, shifting a little and cracking the door-frame by accident. Vergil considered the fact that an extremely large demon was now attached to the back of an extremely old wooden frame house. Even if the creature was being careful of the structure, someone would almost certainly see him and start a panic in a moment. "Human-size," he snapped at it. "Now. You know better than to use that shape here."

The demon winced a little at the reprimand. Then, however, it flickered, and a moment later Nero's body perched in a crouch on the balcony railing, peering in through the badly-smashed doors. It had taken Nero's normal appearance this time, and had even put his blue-gray eyes on in place of its yellow, inhuman gaze, but it wasn't him. The perching and tilted head were something of a clue. It might work in a pinch to fool humans, though.

Dante alighted on the balcony railing beside Nero, sword in hand. "Gonna go make a quick patrol circuit," he said, winking at them, and vanished. A moment later, Kyrie reached the top floor of the house. Vergil heard her -- out of breath -- reassuring the other teachers and staff that she would check on that terrible noise, but everything was probably fine because Nero and his family were here. Then she slipped into the room, shutting the door behind her before making a beeline for the crib. Vergil, stalking the room for listening devices, hidden cameras, or any whiff of additional threat, turned in surprise as a loud and angry wail started up behind him.

The wail came from the child who had been in the crib, whom Kyrie now held on her shoulder. She was only a year or so old, black-haired, and small for her age, though she wriggled agilely in Kyrie's arms until she was able to glare over Kyrie's shoulder at Vergil and Nero's demon. Kyrie shushed her and bounced her gently, then looked around as well. Her gaze stopped on Vergil for a second, then raked past him and settled on Nero, perched there on the balcony. She went very still. Before Vergil could advise her, however, she smiled tentatively. "Oh. Hello. You're... the other one?"

Nero's demon blinked, looked around wildly, and then sidled to one side along the balcony, visibly flustered at being recognized. Kyrie's smile widened, and she went over to the broken balcony doors with the child. "It's all right," she said, to a creature powerful enough to destroy her whole house by accident. Vergil approved of her fearlessness. "Nero told me you were nice. Her name is Angela. Do you want to meet her?"

At this, the demon straightened in surprise and pleasure. After a moment, it eased off the railing and came into the room, hunching to make itself seem smaller and less threatening, with its hands curling anxiously in front of it. "Is offspring?" it asked. Its husky, rumbling voice was nothing like Nero's, which was probably why it spoke very softly, as if fearing her reaction.

Kyrie blinked at its voice, then smiled. "She is... offspring, yes. Your daughter. Here, she's walking a little." She crouched and set the child down, after checking carefully to make sure there was no broken glass nearby. The child toddled forward at once, though she stopped at the limit of her mother's shadow and kept a hand on Kyrie's dress for support. Then she reached up with one fat hand toward Nero's demon, and made an imperious sound. _Come here. Now_.

Delighted, Nero's demon immediately dropped onto all fours and crouched before her, putting its face close to the child. She patted its face, murmuring in babyish talk, while it leaned in to sniff eagerly at her. "Hello, offspring," it said, beaming. "Smell healthy! Is good. Will eat _many_ enemy, get big and strong!"

Kyrie coughed and covered her mouth to hide a smile. "Well, she's only just now weaned onto all solid foods, so I think we'll hold off on enemies for a bit."

The demon looked up at her. It had begun to slip a little, Vergil noticed; its eyes had gone back to yellow, though the pupils were huge with delight for now. It also began to materialize horns again, as Vergil watched. The child squealed and grabbed for one, and without looking the demon swept her up in one arm and sat up on its heels, lifting her so she could play with the appendage. "Sorry," the demon said to Kyrie. It ducked its eyes a little. "Scared you, that time. We did not mean. Were just... hungry."

Kyrie's face went completely red, by which Vergil gathered that the creature was probably referring to the last time they'd had sex. "Oh. Um. Well, ah, I suppose everything's worked out for the best."

The demon grinned at her from Nero's face -- with still more sharp teeth -- and returned its attention to the child. The baby immediately bared her teeth back at it and mock-growled. Nero's demon made a happy sound and then flopped onto its side to curl around the child in a big donut, materializing wings to fold around her as well. The baby cooed and immediately reached for one of the spectral appendages. Kyrie smiled with a hint of discomfort, though this quickly faded as it became clear that the demon was taking extreme care with the child.

Dante dropped onto the balcony outside, shedding his own demonshape, and Vergil went to meet him. "Found that asshole's trail," Dante said, keeping his voice low. He smiled at Vergil as he said it; they were both aware of Kyrie watching them. "And the car he used, which I carted off to etherspace too, so we can check it for GPS trackers. Pretty sure it followed us here, though. No signs of surveillance on the orphanage or anywhere in the area."

"They're watching us, then, and not this place." Vergil sighed in irritation, but things could be worse. It meant that dealing with the car and its driver would likely end any threat to Kyrie and her charges.

"Looks like. Hey, Kyrie." They turned then as Kyrie apparently decided that it was safe to leave her child with an affectionate demon, and came out onto the balcony to join them. She smelled nothing of Nero anymore, Vergil noted, privately pleased. Not that she would have been much threat to his claim on Nero even if she'd been interested, but it made things easier, not having to fight the instinctive urge to tear her to pieces.

"It's still dangerous, then," she said, reading Dante's face. "I'd hoped..." She sighed, looking troubled.

"It will always be dangerous," Vergil said. "And as we explained, demons are no longer the only threat. If that intruder figured out the child's identity and reported back -- "

"Did not speak," called Nero's demon from in the room. They turned. The creature had transformed almost fully back into itself, a long-haired red-and-blue creature that in no way resembled a human being. It rolled onto its back and pretended to be hurt when the baby slapped its armored chest. "Aiee! I die, offspring! Such might! Human not speak before I catch. Had headset, but only scream, no talk."

"Very good," Vergil said. The demon purred aloud in pleasure; the baby tried to imitate this, and coughed. "We'll still question him, just to be sure, but it seems likely no report got out."

Kyrie had put a hand to her mouth at the sight of Nero's new appearance, but Vergil suspected it was more amazement than horror. Dante shook his head, amused, but his voice was serious. "What this means is that what we were afraid of has happened: the organization Nero's human side built to start a war between the two worlds still exists. Until we take the whole group down, it's a threat to all of us. Including your daughter."

Kyrie slumped. "He'll hate us for this," she said. She was watching the baby, who seemed to be trying to climb onto the demon's back while it crouched low for her. "When he finally learns the truth. It's cruel that we have to keep it from him. He'd be such a good father."

Dante sighed. "Yeah, it sucks, not gonna lie. But if you had met that version of him..." He shook his head. "Bastard made everybody in the Order seem like Mr. Rogers."

"Better cruelty than danger," Vergil agreed. "Nero's told you how it was for us."

Kyrie nodded slowly, though her expression was still sad. "He said that the demons killed your parents, and attacked you both, when you were only eight." She blinks then, looking hopeful. "They didn't start attacking Nero until he was eleven, though. Maybe -- "

"That," Vergil said, softly, "is only because I didn't know he existed. If the knowledge had been in my mind when Mundus took me..."

He stopped talking, then. Pointless to say some things aloud. The back of Dante's hand brushed his, as if by chance. Vergil focused on this, and kept watching his grandchild, and did not allow himself to think of horrors that were or might have been.

Kyrie, also watching the demon play with her daughter, sighed. "My brother once told me the Order had its hands full keeping the demons off him. That's why he started training Nero so young -- a good five years before they would have done with any other Order recruit. He needed to be able to defend himself."

"And when Angela can defend herself, the deception can end," Vergil said coolly. "Her development seems sound so far, so she can begin training earlier than ten. Five years old for the sword, perhaps, or simple hand-to-hand at four if she shows sufficient warrior spirit -- "

"If she_ wants_," Dante interrupted, giving Vergil one of his patented _You're freaking out the humans again_ looks. Kyrie, who had indeed grown alarmed, looked grateful for this; Vergil sighed. To Kyrie, Dante continued, "If you really do want her to have the option of a normal human life, maybe wait and see if she's into it. But Vergil's right; she can't be with us and be an ordinary human girl. And Nero will _never_ be able to know about her, if she wants that kind of life."

"_Never?_" Kyrie looked from him to Vergil, horrified. Behind her, Nero's demon crawled about on all fours, pretending to be a horse while the baby squealed "Gee yup!" from its back. It had carefully fisted its glowing wing-claws to hold her in place, and she'd grabbed great handfuls of its long white hair for "reins."

"Never," Vergil said. "Nero is the son of a demon king, a lord of demonkind himself. Your child was born with all of our enemies. There are only two ways to keep her safe: protective anonymity, or let Nero keep the child close enough to guard at all times. Angela would necessarily grow up to be like us." He paused then, and let the silence remind her of who she was talking to. Nero had probably told her plenty about them. He saw it sink in as her face tightened: neither Dante nor Vergil had had anything remotely close to a normal human life, and neither of them were exactly role models of stability and morality as a result. 

"And more importantly," Dante added, with a heavy sigh, "_Nero himself_ is the danger, these days. So we can't even tell him now, because what _he_ knows, _the other him_ knows."

Nero's human self -- that vicious, meticulous, manipulative entity who reminded Vergil entirely too much of his younger self -- had created the organization that even now stalked them. There was no knowing what that organization would do if it could get its hands on Nero's infant daughter. Vergil resolved to handle the matter himself, since it would necessitate slaughtering every member of the group and anyone the group had had contact with. Dante did not like killing humans. He supposed he would be able to count on Nero's demon for aid, however. The creature had already proven itself more than willing to do what was necessary for the protection of its "offspring."

As if summoned by the thought, Nero's demon walked out onto the balcony to join them, with the little girl perched on its ridged shoulders. It was somewhere between its higher and lower forms now, Vergil noted; it had manifested its tail to secure the girl. And was it a little larger? The creature was grinning in delight, however.

"Offspring is sleepy," it said, lifting the child off its shoulders with its tail and holding her forward for Kyrie to take. Kyrie stared at the tail for a moment, but then took the baby (who protested a little even as she yawned and reached back for the demon). The demon glanced at Vergil then and ducked its eyes bashfully. "We are tired, too. Nero wants awake. Getting harder to hold him back."

"Time to go, then," Dante said, with a little sigh of regret. He stepped forward and ran a hand over the baby's wild hair; it was easy to see, then, that her roots showed white beneath the dye. He kissed her forehead and backed off when she complained and swatted at him. "Ingrate. I was gonna bring you some chopped-up pizza, but not anymore. Now you just get _carrots_." The baby giggled.

"Hang on and let me find someone to put her down," Kyrie said, nodding to them both. "I'll meet you at the van."

They went down to the van. Nero's demon managed to resume a human appearance for the few minutes that took, but it stumbled and sat down heavily on the van step, once the door opened. "Cannot," it groaned. "Any longer -- "

"You've done well," Vergil said, putting a hand on its shoulder and feeding it a little of his strength. It looked up at him gratefully, though Vergil was merely being practical. If the creature went to sleep once it subsided into Nero's psyche, it would be unable to keep watch over Nero's monstrous human persona. "Let him return, now."

The demon rubbed its head on Vergil's hand, let out a long sigh, and shut its eyes. A moment later, Nero opened them and immediately glared at Dante. "What the hell," he said, frowning a little as he registered that he was at the van.

"Just goes to show you," Dante said, jauntily, "that you should be ready for an attack anytime, in any way. I must have knocked you clean out. Sorry, by the way. And welcome back."

Nero narrowed his eyes in irritation. "You went all-out over a goddamn _candy bar_? There's something wrong with you, old man."

And that was the end of the visit, to Vergil's relief. They had kept the knowledge of Nero's child safe from all threats -- the demons, the humans, and Nero himself. Nero held his old girlfriend and told her that he loved her, but then he stepped back to stand with Dante and Vergil with no hint of reluctance.

Nero _would_ be furious with them when he learned that all of them had hidden his child from him, Vergil reflected, as they got back in the van and Nero took the wheel for the tedious drive home. And he would have reason to be angry; it was clear that unlike Dante or Vergil himself, Nero did crave fatherhood. Fatherhood, however, meant doing what was best for the child -- and sometimes that meant sacrifice. If Sparda had had the strength to separate himself from his children...

_Then I would not be as I am_, Vergil thought, irritated by his own sentimentality. Spending the afternoon around humans had made him irrational. If Sparda had chosen the safety of anonymity for his children, Vergil and Dante would not now be strong enough and cruel enough to protect Nero's daughter, and her choices. If one generation's suffering meant another's freedom, then that was a price well paid.

She was a good, strong child, though, wasn't she? His granddaughter. It seemed pure foolishness to press a human life upon her; she had been born for greater things. If she eventually chose the warrior's path, then all secrets could be revealed, and they would welcome her into their family and introduce her to her noble demonic lineage. Nero would forgive them eventually -- and, as Vergil had discovered, a vestige of fatherhood was still possible even after a child had grown to maturity. Perhaps Vergil should seek a proper sword for her now, just in case...

Dante, over on the van's small couch, glanced up from the porn magazine he'd been idly browsing. "Alastor?"

Vergil's lip curled. "Too ugly."

"Rude." But Dante's smile was gentle. "Rebellion, then."

Vergil lifted an eyebrow. Would he really give that one up for his grand-niece? He did have the Dante, but Rebellion had been their father's gift to him.

Dante shrugged. "Some things are meant to be passed on." And he glanced at the Yamato. They both knew Vergil intended that one for Nero, whenever the time finally came.

"What the hell are you two muttering about?" Nero called from the driver's seat. He'd wrestled the van onto an interstate, though the thing really wasn't built for smooth, obstacle-free driving.

"How much trouble you are to deal with," Dante called back.

"But _perhaps_ worth it," Vergil said, crossing his legs.

Nero glanced back at them for a moment, a suspicious look on his face. "I'm gonna kick your asses when we get home."

"What did we do now?" asked Dante.

"I don't know. I just feel like I should, for some reason. There's always a good reason to kick your asses, even if I don't know what it is. So, sparring match, first thing."

"I welcome your challenge as always," Vergil said. "After all, it's important that parents remain strong for their children." Dante kicked him. "Especially considering you got knocked out over a candy bar."

Nero spluttered, but it worked; he stopped paying attention to them and subsided into a grumbling funk. Thoroughly pleased with himself -- and reluctantly conceding that he no longer minded having missed a day of auction carnage -- Vergil shut his eyes and relaxed into his son's care for the rest of the ride home.

**Author's Note:**

> It's becoming clear that Nero's big, silly demon has its own fandom! I've gotten like six prompts just about it. I'm tempted to let Nero give it a name of its own, but Nero is an asshole and would just name it something like "Demony Guy" or whatever.
> 
> Return of the revenge of Nero's human self ("Dick the Human," we'll call him for now)! Of course I'm going to keep playing with that concept, now that it's been introduced to the series. But I'd already been contemplating whether Nero knocked Kyrie up for a while now, and this set of prompts (the other was "Vergil wants grandkids") just hurried that idea along. I, uh, have another idea along those lines, but it would've damaged this story to add it on, so I might do it up as a separate thing at some point. We'll see. Anyway, I hesitated to introduce Nero's child because, obviously, Nero would make a great dad and would insist upon being involved in his child's life. Which, given the other fanon presented in this series (e.g. Nero's heir to the throne of two worlds), would pretty much guarantee that the child would never have anything resembling a safe or sane upbringing. So I put the matter in Kyrie's hands, with kindly assistance from Uncle Dante and Daddy Vergil.
> 
> Angela's gonna choose the warrior's path, tho. Come on. Family tradition.


End file.
